Thursday, June 27, 2013

It is after midnight...and I can't sleep... don't know why.. didn't drink coffee all day.. just in the morning.. So figured for today's blog.. I would do a soft one... Pictures around the

yard... The rain has everything blooming like crazy.. Kind of scares me.. because it is all blooming now.. what is going to be there for the rest of the summer. But the yard looks good.. And I have been mowing every 3 days.. Weed whacking every other mowing day.. Keeps me busy. Hope you enjoy the soft day...

my daughter found this sign and bought it for me.... I thought

it was fitting to put it here..

The baskets are doing well.... the King did them.

The clematis is doing well.. there are 3 of them there. The red on the left, the big
light purple in the middle and the dark purple is starting on the right.

here is the red up close

This is how big this purple one is.. see my thumb.

In the top picture, I bet you didn't see the hummingbird feeder in the vines. you might
have to click on the picture to make it bigger to see it.

couple of my backyard signs I found at yard sales..You might have to enlarge them to
see what they say..

the little girl, I found at a yard sale and she was grey stone.. the King painted her for me.
the pot was a surprise.. as I didn't know what was in it..but it had a few green leaves this
spring, so I water it. It was left over from last year... I had about 20 some odd baskets, so
didn't remember what it was. Turn out great.

Here are my other two girls.. I call the one in the corner my Portuguese gal.. and the other
is from my brother and sister in law.. she holds butterflies.. but she got beaten around
by the weather last year.. so she has lost her butterflies. Have to find her some and glue them on

The is the other clematis that we put by the house..(others are on garage) and also
two new ones on the left.. that are starting to take off.. one is a deep purple and the
other is suppose to be white.. we will see. The first years are weak..but next year should
be good for them.

These are our start of privacy bushes.. they are 3 years old.. suppose to be 4 feet high
and wide.

Up close of my Joseph's Coat Rose.. this is the young one.. they are climbers. Start out
with peach, and as it opens it turns pink and then red.

These are surprise.. because I planted my Easter lilies last year ... and these came up
this year.. sure don't look white to me.. but I love the color. .

Surprisingly the driveway planters are surviving.. the weather usually beats them to death.
between the wind and the rain.. it is a 50/50 deal.. so far.. so good. Also the heat raises
cain with them too... no matter how much I water them.

This is one of those tiny roses they sell at Mother Day time.. and usually die.. at least
for me they have in the past.. but this one has hung on for 5 years now.. I take it in the
garage in this pot for the winter and bring it back out in late spring.. and there it has a bud
amazing...

Most people call these weeds.. Johnny Jump ups... I love them.. and there is a few
buttercups mixed in there.. that I left for color.. I use to love butter cups.. until they took
over my WHOLE front lawn... and trying to take over my back yard too.

There is Mr. and Mrs. Scarecrow, that I got at a yard sale for a buck..for the two.

our fence and gate.. you have to enlarge the picture to see what the sign says.

Of course he
has said it in the past… and behind close doors of the
station…he may have said it more often than in the public.

With Paula,
being raised in the south.. she still has the strong Southern accent… so of
course she has said it in her life time.. more than once. And who knows…
she might have even said it in the past 5 years or less.

I am being
honest by saying I never said the word… but the word I did use is
offensive now.. We, in R.I., referred to them as colored. If used now, will get
you in trouble.When they started to
call themselves, black (before the
African American term came) I adjusted my language of

reference, to
black. And that is where it stays.. I don’t use the A-A reference, as
I don’t use the English-German-Swedish reference for myself.. I am
first and foremost...an AMERICAN.. Besides, I am Cis.

But 98% I
referred to the individuals by their name.

After all, I
didn’t want to be referred to as Cis the white gal. Or just “the white gal”.

For older
ones, like myself.. old habits are hard to break. It isn’t the term is used nastily.
For the most part, I have gotten myself
broke in.. There is some terms..
the ones having to do with gender, I have trouble with.

It is still a
man hole, still refer to boats and storms as she, and etc.

My husband
who is 61, has a hard time breaking himself for using the word, babe..
Thanks, babe is a common use for him. It is a term of endearment for him.I have been working on him for over 5 years
to not use the term, yet

it slips out
from time to time. He even almost got
into trouble at work, because a fellow
worker who was in tears over a trouble time in her life… he gave her a hug and
told her it would be ok, babe…He was
called on the carpet over it.

Luckily the
people he works for, knew he meant no harm.. and even the gal finally admitted
he didn’t. It was hard to understand
which one she was more upset about,
the word babe, or the fact that he
hugged her.. as she

used the
words of sexual harassment, when she turn it in. And one who knows my
husband.. knows sexual harassment is the furthest from him.

Compassion,
oh, yea.. And many of women have
referred to him as a Teddy bear…
as he is a hugger.. and has a great smile. And he has the greatest respect
for women..

Sometimes it
is time that makes it hard to change.. environment has a huge part in
it… sometimes it is just plain ignorance.Ignorance is hard to fix.. but
with patience and time, it can be changed. Environment is

hard too… how
many of you have been around a Southerner with a great drawl…find
yourself, inserting “You all”, in your sentence without knowing it, until it
has slipped out?

Paula, has
sincerely apologized… what more do you want. She gets it.

Personally, I
feel if a person apologizes most sincerely… they should not have to do it
over and over… After the first or second time, then the other person is
asking you to beg.. I beg to no person.. You either understand

I really am truly
sorry… or you don’t.. then it becomes your problem. The deal is not that
you feel superior because you made the person apologized over and
over.

take it
down. When he got sick, the neighbor
came over after not seeing
the flag raised for 3 days… and asked why. When he was told
my Uncle was sick…he asked if he and his daughters could raise the
flag for my Uncle….and they did, until the day he died.I don’t know how long after they did it.

American’s
love their flag… and that is why we get upset when people burn
it…or some ask for us to put it away, as it might offend some
people.My thought is.. those people
came to this country,
for a reason.. to be safe and earn money. That Flag is what
got them to be able to stay.If it
offends them, then maybe
they should go back to their own country. Where they won’t be
offended by it. Because you are in my country…

and to be
offended by our flag… well, you are offending me.

AND LAST BUT
NOT LEAST… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARIANNE LOVE,

Author of the
blog… SLIGHT DETOUR. Go to her site and
wish her a happy

Doesn't say what he did for either. I just can’t believe that either one
of them could have been a big job. Especially the

CIA. Yet what ever he put in his resume, was
enough to

get
him into a job for a company that works with NSA.

And
that is only the past year. Don’t they do background checks?

NATIONAL
SECURITY AGENCY… somehow, something seems wrong
with this picture… that his young man was given access to
such high priority Information with so little seniority……or
did he steal it?Of
course he stole it, to get it out of the building and to Hong Kong..

But
I refer to stealing it as in, he never should have had access to
that information and that much of it in the first place………something
here just doesn't add up.

The
other thing is, I don’t understand the big surprise of the citizen that
there is that kind of surveillance.We
have had wiretapping for almost
a century. This is just more modern electronic wiretapping.

Also
I have referred to a program before, put on by CBS 60 Minutes about 10
or 15 years ago… about the huge satellites in England, run by France,
England and our country.. and I think German was the 4th one.
This was way before I had a computer.. so before 1992? CBS
reported about how the computers worked there. How they could
listen to all of the telephones and other communications in the
WORLD.. not just the USA… and the computer would pick up certain
words.. .like bomb, terrorist, explosives and

other key words.

So
this is not big news that governments.. (not just ours) have been listen
to us all for years.

Have
you ever watched the CBS program called Person of Interest?

If
you haven’t …you should… of course it might scare the crap out of you…
because if they have it on the show… and all the cameras we already
know that are out there… don’t you think there is an ounce of
truth to that show?

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Is there a
thing out there to get rid of telephone books? Have you looked at your phone
book the past couple years?I swear each
year the print gets smaller.. And
the book gets smaller too.

My phone book
is about 4 inches by 6 and ¾ inch thick. What happened To the book
that was at least a foot long and 8 inches wide? Some were even bigger.I haven’t seen Spokane’s book lately. That
was a reasonable

size,
especially for the size of the city… Coeur d’ Alene black book use to be a fair
size, but the last one is about ¾ of the size of the old one.

So when you
downsize the book itself… what has to be down sized as well? The Print..

…
I can read this size letters very well… I can read this

Size
fairly well… but
you have started to lose me with this one.. and I am looking for a

magnified
glass and good light to read this one.. especially when you have all of the
names in a line and the numbers

In
a line with hardly any space between them, the blend together.

Now I know my
eyes aren’t as good as they were at ..say 30 or 50…but

This is ridiculous.
Surely I can’t be the only one with the
problem of reading telephone books.

We have even
joked about it … about ourselves from time to time. I talk to
myself, as I am the only intelligent person I know.. or I want to have
a meaningful conversation… to cover up when some one catches
us doing it.

Well, the
other day, I caught myself doing it… a few memo words. Stay focus…
don’t forget.. xxx… It isn’t the big
stuff that trips me up, it is the
little stuff… like why did I come into this room to do what? Of course, I
have help with the big stuff. I have a calendar in the hall way up on the
wall for the King and I to see each day. It is a extra large desk
calendar… We haven’t forgotten anything so far.

But to make
sure we don’t … we put It up there. We
have had friends
younger than us, who have forgotten a date… So we write on the calendar
.. just in case. Especially if one of us was told about a place or
thing we need to know…without the other one there. This way both
of us are aware.

The King is
worse for this, than I am.

A friend who
was sitting next to him at a gathering.. told him to not forget, what
time we were leaving for Montana, and also about a lunch date
with them.Luckily she called me. She
got on the phone with him
after and said.. wasn’t that you, who was sitting beside me and talking
to me about these things.. both of them laughing. We joking

say, don’t
forget to tell the secretary.. (me) …

I shouldn't say I have never forgotten anything.. as I have spaced a few council
meetings.. which I “like” to go to.. it isn't mandatory. So I don’t
count those as lapse of memory… it only counts if it was something fairly
important. I was doing something at the
time, and was engrossed
in that, that I space the meeting.Priorities, I guess.

I use to be
great at multitasking, I could do many things, not so much at once, as in a
row, sometimes two at a time.. but now.. I better just line up one or two
in a row.. lol…

So if you
find yourself giving yourself brief memos.. it is ok.. we all do it at one
time or another… and now we understand Grandma/Auntie more.. They weren’t looney after all.. haha

Some of these
are public parks and some of them are private that is open
to the public by the owner Avista. Which is our district electric
company. Avista invest a lot of money to
keep areas open
for all of the public to use. They invest a lot of money into
keeping the fish going in the streams and rivers.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

mere mention
of the IRS. Even before you open the envelope to see what
they have to say, you are shaking in your shoes.

Your heart
starts to beat like a Gene Kupra drum.

Unless, of
course, if it is a refund check.

So to me.. it
was kind of funny that those who scream like a banshee over the tea party
and such who were having such a bad time with the IRS… it
is like, give me a break.. who hasn't?

*The IRS was
started by Lincoln (a Republican) to cover the Civil War.

Then 7 years
later it was done away with. Then at the turn of the century some
wonderful people decided we need income tax for building up
our military.. We hadn't even gotten into World War I.

And then it
became the 16th Amendment.
Before that, the government got enough
money to pay for everything from tariffs, tax on liquor and tobacco. And
sugar.Sugar? Why sugar, I wonder..

Anyway, the abuse
of the IRS by Presidents and his people goes way back..
Franklin Roosevelt was one of them.. keeping tabs on newspaper
publisher, Hearst and

about 4 or 5 more influence people.

Then of course,
the biggest one was J. Edgar Hoover… and even Kennedy. All Democrats,
you say..

Not so fast… The Republican
did their share.

Nixon being
the worse one, he even set up a special service staff, to do his dirty
work. He was even charged in the
impeachment for “seeking confidential information contained in income tax
returns, for purposes not authorized by law”

So, for
everyone to get upset about it now.. I find ironic… and where were all these
righteous Republicans, when the common man goes in for an audit for the
last 80 years?

Oh, by the
way.. the young lady who was in front of the committee and said she wasn't going to answer any questions and walked out.. I wonder.

If a citizen
was in the office of an examiner being drilled over their income and tax
exempts.. decided to say to that examiner… Sir/Ma’am, I am not going to
answer these questions, and walked out… how far would that

Citizen get? Maybe home, but not for long…I think selling
off assets and maybe jail
time, might follow John Q. Citizen.Oh,
I read somewhere, they are trying to
fire her….. and she refuses to go.How
does that work?

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Your taste
changes. Some thing that were horrible
to you before, now are
acceptable. Some of it is environmental, we get desensitized.

But most of
all is colors and food.

When I was a
kid, I did not like liver, peas, black olives, brussels sprouts, chicken gizzards,
heart, broccoli, and several other things. But now I eat brussels sprouts,
broccoli, black olives, heart (not fond of it, but will eat it

without gagging) I actually like black olives, and brussel
sprouts, and broccoli.

But I still
will NOT eat liver… I will eat peas to
be polite… but there is nothing that will get
me to eat liver.

And when I
was younger, I didn’t care for the colors of orange, purple, brown, And really
did not like pink. I didn’t hate pink, but did not want to ever wear it.

I like red,
black, blue and loved green.. especially Kelly green. Now I wear orange, peach
color, and once in a while purple. More into the pastel shades,

But still
like the bold too… still not fond of pink and avoid it as much as possible. I like maroon
as well… Some colors you would never wear together.. pink and

red or
orange.. and now they do.. not me.. but others do… Also a no no was blue and
green…which I do like together..

So what
colors would you not be caught dead in when you were younger, and now wear?What foods did you refused to eat or your
parents went thru hell to get you to
eat, that you eat and enjoy now?

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

I laugh when people
get upset about recent lack of privacy… I laugh not because it is funny.. But I
have to ask where were these people were 15 years ago when 60 minutes did a
story on the huge satellites over in
England, operated by the Brits, USA, France and I think Germany was the 4th
one.It told how it monitored phones and
all media (this was before emails and Facebook) ..

That there
was a long word list that triggered action… terrorist, bomb, guns and etc were,
of course, top of the list.

Those who laughed
at the book 1984 in the 1950’s, when it was written.. you have no idea how kindergarten
that is in this day and age of electronics.

Those of you
on Facebook, do you really think your page is private? My page is as private as
they will allow.. as I can get. No games, no new apps, or anything. Anytime they ask for access to my page with
friends list and photos, I say NO AND CANCEL.
Yet a trip to Hawaii three years ago and pictures I was tagged in, and
ones I did.. brought me so much sideline bar ads on Hawaii, even who to vote
for in case I moved there within a year. PRIVACY? Don’t make me laugh.

This is not a
Democrat issue, this is not a Obama issue.. This has gone on for over 80 years
or more. And as electronics get more advanced, the more open we are. You can’t even walk in to a Walmart or any
other store, that they don’t see you. Or walk down the street. Remember you have seen on the news, criminals
spotted thru these.

Can it be
changed? I doubt it.. Greed and power always wins. Who can change it or try..
the young. Surely, not this 73 old woman
in Idaho. But if you can find people of fairness.. common sense Maybe coming up teens, who will forgo power
and greed for fairness. But consider how much lack of privacy they do,

I kind of
doubt it.

Kind of like
the tea party that put a foot in the door… But they are so over their heads
with righteousness.. No, we need those who are not about themselves but about
country. But you aren’t going to find them.. the others will see to that.

Privacy? Is always at the mercy of others.. be it
government or friends or family

Monday, June 10, 2013

So many times
I have heard people dismiss women who are mothers, because for
what ever reason, they let their children live with the father.

Most don’t
even know the circumstances. A few know,
but jump to a conclusion..
and have no idea what it is like.

There are a
lot of women out there, who have gave up their wants and desires, to
give that right to a child… or children.

No one, knows
the pain that goes with that. Only one who has been thru it.

Even if the
woman brought it on herself, that she lost her child or children, The scars are
still there.There are many reasons
why.. some of them, especially in
the past 15 years, has to do with drugs.Before it was alcohol.

90% of the
women who gave up their child, did it for the child… Know or hoping that the
father or the grandparents can provide a better environment and possibilities
for that child. Sometimes it is the child that convinces the
mother,

that things
are better on the other side. The greatest love, is doing what is better for
the child instead of what she wants.

Single mother’s
know their limits. A lot of them stick it out, some out of stubbornness,
making sure the father doesn’t get the children.. at any cost.

Some even
making up stories of improper parenting of the father. Actually most times in
a divorce it works both ways.. Never really thinking about the child and
what is best for the child. And those who cut off the child from ever
seeing their lost custody parent, have started a new kind of

Hell. They
celebrate in winning… when the loser is the child.

(disclaimer: there are some very few parents
who should never see their

child again.. such as the father who
tried to get out of paying child support,

so set his son on fire…but these are
very few)

I applaud
those parents who have separated, divorced and still kept it civil for the
children’s sake.. and always … have what is right for the child being
the major concern.. putting their lives second.

But it always
saddens me, to hear others dismiss the mothers who let go. Never understanding
the hell they go thru.. questioning did they really do what was best
for the child. Even the child themselves, don’t understand.

So those who
make judgments, DON’T… until you have walked in those shoes
yourself..

Thursday, June 06, 2013

The other
night, I sat down to watch tv with the King, and said You know, I
am craving ice cream… Now I crave ice cream about once a year,
if that.. just not real big on ice cream.. unless it is Pistachio, maybe. He said, you know that does sound good. Why don’t you go get us some..
I just got out of the shower and have pj’s and slippers on.

I figured,
why not.. store is only a mile away.. I’ll go.
Which a mile isn’t far
enough. Because on the way over, I had turn the craving from just ice
cream to banana split.Had I a longer
way to go, I could have talked myself
back down to two tiny ice cream paks.You know the ones that
sell for a $1 and have about the same as one scoop but with

out the cone.

I found 3
half pints of ice cream… a Rocky Road type for the King, and they had my
favorite Pistachio and I got a cherry vanilla to round out the banana
split.Got the banana’s, swung around
and got the chocolate stuff that
stiffens up when it hits cold. Also there was low sugar butterscotch,

AND they had
no calorie, no fat, no sugar caramel . (I wonder what is really in it)… and
behind me was the refrigerator area.. so got whip cream bottle. Had cherries
at home.

I headed to
the cashier and put the things on the belt.
As the cashier is running it
over the counter, I see just how much I do have. And then it starts to hit, all
of the goodies.. and having second thoughts, as the person who is

trying to
lose the 10 pounds she gained…. This is not the way to do this.

FINE.. WERE THE
HELL was this person 10 minutes ago, as the items were flying
in to the cart?

Then I see
another gal putting her things up on the belt…6 bags of chips, 3 dip cans, one
6 pak of beer and one 4 pack of hard cider coolers.

I smiled. I
told her, that I thought we were the two worse ones to go get the
supplies. And smiled.

She looked at
hers, and then looked at mine as they were bagging it. I think you are right,
she said.. it was suppose to be a bag of chips and a 6 pak of beer.

But they had
several good chips and dips..

Moral of the
story…… never send the craver to the store to get the supplies.

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

And 27 years
together. (I had to make sure it was
going to last before I jumped into
the marriage…lol)

This is a
nice picture of him with one of our kids… #1 son… as #2 or #3 or
#4, as I don’t use their names here) … which by the way, #1 turns 50
next month… geesh, these kids are getting old.

The King took
on, not only a very opinionated woman with a strong head, but also gain
8 kids, and we are up to 22 grandchildren and about 13 great grandchildren
now.All who dearly love him.

I considered
myself twice blessed. As my deceased husband was a blessing to me.. and then
God was kind enough to find another man who would put up with

me. A man who puts up with all my being a bitch,
when I don’t like me.. yet he still loves me. Who treats me like a Queen,
during those times… He might frustrate me
from time to time.. with his practical jokes, and pranks, and putting things off,
but I tell you, it has been a great 14 years… and I wouldn't

the pad for
the big door to open. But never touch the wireless Key pad.
Until Friday.

I had a
wheelbarrow of stuff to take out

of his garage
to put into my garage freezer. Rather than go

back to the
house and get the key, I figured I would save

myself some
steps and just use the keypad. I remember him

saying that
sometimes it takes two times of punching out the

numbers. So
when it didn't open up, I tried it again. Then I saw a button on
top, so figured that was maybe an enter button. So hit that. The
door didn't open.. so I did it again… Still nothing. So walked
back to the house, got the key, open the door with the wall pad.

The King came
home and hit the buttons and nothing… I had screwed up the
opener. Seems that I hit the program button, not enter. So got
the book out and tried that.. things got worse.Door company
closed on Friday.

Today they
arrived when the King got home.. Have to admit, when I loused
it up, I did a dandy job of it.. as he had a problem solving it as
well. Seems that after 3 tries the automatic theft proof shuts down the computer.

Long and short
of it.. half an hour later, and $30 later, the

problem was
solved. Could have been worse.. if it
had taken

an hour it
would have been $70!!!!! I had to ask.. did you say $70 like in 7…0?
Yep.. Thank you Ralph, for being quick
and also teaching
the King how to fix it next time.. but I can tell you it won’t be
me… who did it.. walking to get the key is so much